This invention relates to the field of optical devices, and, more particularly, to interferometers, including monolithic interferometers, optical assemblies, and methods of mounting same. Such interferometers or interferometer optical assemblies provide stability in optical alignment by, among other factors, using a single material. The present invention provides stability in situations where it is not possible to utilize a single material for every component of the interferometer or optical assembly.
Fourier transform infrared (“FTIR”) spectrometers are well known in the art. Michelson interferometers function by splitting a beam of electromagnetic radiation into two separate beams via a beam splitter. Each beam travels along its own path, e.g., a reference path of fixed length and a measurement path of variable length. A reflecting element, such as a retroreflector, is placed in the path of each beam and returns them both to the beam splitter. The beams are there recombined into a single exit beam. The variable path length causes the combined exit beam to be amplitude modulated due to interference between the fixed and variable length beams. By analyzing the output beam, the spectrum, which is the intensity of the input beam as a function of frequency, may be derived after suitable calibration.
When the above interferometer is employed in a FTIR spectrometer, the exit beam is focused upon a detector. If a sample is placed such that the modulated beam passes through it prior to impinging upon the detector, the analysis performed can determine the absorption spectrum of the sample. The sample may also be placed otherwise in the arrangement to obtain other characteristics.
Because Michelson interferometers rely upon the interference from recombination of the two beams, a quality factor of such a device is the degree to which the optical elements remain aligned. The beam splitter and mirror-supporting structures must be isolated to the greatest possible degree from extraneous forces which would tend to produce distortions of the structure. Such forces and resultant distortions introduce inaccuracies into the optical measurements. The forces may arise from vibrational effects from the environment and can be rotational or translational in nature. A similarly pervasive issue concerns distortions due to changes in the thermal environment. Needless to say, considerations of weight, size, facility of use, efficiency, manufacturing cost and feasibility are also of primary importance.
Prior art optical assemblies used in the construction of standard Michelson interferometers, and other type interferometers, have consisted primarily of structures having parts which are in need of high accuracy alignment. For example, the arrangement of the two reflecting assemblies and the beamsplitter must be highly accurate in the perpendicular and reflecting arrangements in order to avoid errors introduced due to any such misalignment. The trouble with these prior art interferometers and optical assemblies arises from the costs involved in meticulously aligning the optical elements, the necessity for active subsystems to maintain the alignment, and subsequent costs to service and readjust the interferometer if shocks and vibrations have introduced uncompensated misalignment.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,949,543 and 6,141,101 to Bleier and Vishnia addressed the above issues with a monolithic interferometer constructed from a single material, preferably a material having a low coefficient of thermal expansion. However, it is not always possible to utilize a monolithic interferometer made out of a single material because materials having reflectance/transmittance properties appropriate to a necessary wavelength of light may not technically or economically lend themselves to elements of the monolithic interferometer other than the optical elements. For example, certain materials do not possess sufficient mechanical properties to be used as support structures for the interferometer, and certain materials can be expensive, require frequent cleaning and may be easily damaged.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an interferometer and/or an interferometer optical assembly with optical elements of a different material than the remainder of the interferometer or interferometer optical assembly that, nevertheless, provides high accuracy measurements. Such an interferometer or interferometer optical assembly would facilitate easy and cost effective maintenance by replacement of the entire optical assembly, which optical assembly is not subject to misalignment from shocks, vibrations, or temperature changes due to the monolithic structure of the assembly. It would be further desirable to provide an optical assembly which allows for use of multiple wavelength light sources to achieve a “fringe” result in a spectrometry application.
It would also be desirable to provide a method of mounting an interferometer and/or an interferometer optical assembly to achieve the desired results.